Cancer survivors gather at Backus Hospital in Norwich

However long participants at The William W. Backus Hospital’s annual Cancer Survivors’ Day celebration have been free of the disease, few were able to hold back tears as stories of triumph traveled through the crowd that gathered under a tent outside the hospital’s oncology center....

The numbers on their shirts were worn as symbols of perseverance and badges of honor.

19 years.

Five and a half years.

Three months.

However long participants at The William W. Backus Hospital’s annual Cancer Survivors’ Day celebration have been free of the disease, few were able to hold back tears as stories of triumph traveled through the crowd that gathered under a tent outside the hospital’s oncology center.

“It’s not a solitary journey. Someone always has your back,” said Jessica Plasse, an ovarian cancer survivor and nurse at Plainfield Backus Health Center. “We don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. We embrace the big stuff.”

Organizers have traditionally used the event as a platform to announce new cancer-related initiatives at the hospital. Two years ago, officials laid out plans for a breast care center and last year a top Backus clinician said an in-house cancer center would provide patients with a range of services outside the traditional scope of care.

On Saturday, James O’Dea, Backus’ vice president of clinical service line development, unveiled the center’s website and said programming has been ongoing for six months — well ahead of schedule.

“We are preventing more cancers than ever before and more reoccurrence of cancers than ever before. Our central focus is no longer on combatting these diseases. Our patients want a wider range of resources,” O’Dea said.

Among the services offered through the center are support groups, rehabilitation, palliative care, nutritional and religious support, hospice care and discharge planning.

Dr. Dinesh Kapur, medical director of cancer services for the hospital, said caretakers are pushed by patients to develop new methods of care that are implemented across the facility to benefit all clients.

“We’re still the original and the best, and we want to keep it that way. Expect more from us. Force us to do more,” Kapur said.

“For a very long time, (cancer) became the focus of people’s whole lives. Now, it’s just a chapter or small paragraph,” Kapur said. “The whole book needs to be written after cancer.”

Kapur pointed to a former patient of his who earned a doctorate in teaching after her cancer treatment several years ago.

As Backus President and CEO David Whitehead asked all cancer survivors to applaud during his opening remarks, Ruth Daimler of Ledyard, who fought off breast cancer two years ago, was among the first hands to shoot into the air.

The event has grown to become an important — and cathartic — part of her life.

“It’s overwhelming, and when you first walk in, you almost have tears in your eyes, looking at everyone,” she said. “Everybody’s a family.”